A wide assortment of data collection instruments are known on the market today, many of which are configured for use by an individual holding the instrument in his or her hand. Such portable instruments are often configured to gather environmental data via one or more onboard environmental sensors.
Most indicators of conventional instruments are known to be disposed on the front of the unit, and are often present in the form of LEDs, screens, etc. Mechanisms such as these are not visible if the user walks around the instrument, or away from the instrument.
Conventionally, in order to provide such status visibility to the user of the instrument, a light stick (namely, a pole equipped with an illuminated status indicator) is often used in conjunction with a measuring instrument, such as a particle counter, to allow the status of the particle counter to be visible throughout the room. As with particle counters in a cleanroom, keeping the instrument easy to wipe down means eliminated extraneous projections from the instrument enclosure. Therefore, such a device would need to be equipped with indicators that are flush or disposed inside of the body of the instrument enclosure, such as within the handle of the instrument.
Thus, there is a need for an illuminated handle for portable data collection instruments that is configured to interface with the data collection process of the instrument itself, and display a color via at least one light embedded within the handle that corresponds to the status of the data collection instrument. Such a device is preferably integrated within the instrument, however some embodiments of the present invention may be configured to augment or replace an existing handle on a data collection instrument to afford the instrument the features of the present invention. Also by combining a “light stick” with a “handle” of the measuring instrument via the present invention, extraneous projection of light is eliminated, and the cost of use is reduced.